Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer rolls out, looks impressive

Following last week's short teaser trailer of Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts and DICE have released a brand-new gameplay trailer and screenshots for its highly anticipated shooter. The game is being developed with the new Frostbite 2.0 engine and is focused foremost on the PC platform to showcase what current hardware is capable of -- and according to early impressions it was quite a demonstration of character animation, destructible environments and superb lighting.

The footage was shown at the Game Developer’s Conference and corresponds to a pre-alpha version of the game's single-player campaign, which means there's still room for improvement. It chronicles the U.S. Marines' journey through a ‘bad part of town’ in 2014, attempting to restore stability to the region surrounding the Iraqi and Iranian border.

Attendees weren't allowed to play the actual game and despite all the praise surrounding its visual and audio quality, there are still some that are not completely convinced when it comes to enemy AI. But it's still early to judge considering the game won't be out until sometime during Q3 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game is said to feature co-op gameplay, four classes, more unlockables than Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and 64-player multiplayer on PC -- console editions support only up to 24. In addition, those who pre-order the game will automatically be upgraded to the Limited Edition version at no extra cost, and will receive the "digital expansion pack" Back to Karkland, which features re-imaginings of four classic Battlefield 2 multiplayer maps.